Restoring library hours priority for council

City deciding how to spend $1.3 million budget surplus

Restoring library hours and ramping up building code enforcement were among top priorities listed by City Council members Wednesday as they talked of how to spend a rare $1.3 million windfall of cash in the coming fiscal year.

When it comes to construction projects for the 2013-14 fiscal year which starts July 1, council members said they wanted to speed up work on improving Coast Highway, starting in South Oceanside.

Council members also said they wanted to fix up beach restrooms, a project that was stalled with the state-mandated dissolution of redevelopment agencies last year.

The construction projects are not affected by the surplus cash but were part of council discussions in telling City Manager Peter Weiss what to emphasize in preparing a capital improvement budget and a general fund budget for the coming fiscal year.

The general fund, where the surplus money will go, covers most day-to-day city functions while the capital improvement budget applies to long-term construction projects.

Mayor Jim Wood said restoring library hours was “absolutely a priority” in general fund spending because people in a poor economy use the libraries more than ever for job searches and other things.

Councilman Jerry Kern said stronger code enforcement is needed “to make sure we have a safe, clean city.”

Weiss said keeping the city’s two libraries open an extra 14 hours a week and adding a bookmobile stop would cost about $95,000 of the surplus.

Councilman Jack Feller said he’d like to put an even greater emphasis on code enforcement by hiring four part-time code enforcement officers.

The surplus comes from money the city is getting back from the dissolution of its redevelopment agency and a refund of county charges for administrative fees relating to property tax collection.

When the state ordered an end to redevelopment agencies last year, redevelopment money that would have gone for affordable housing was redistributed to a variety of agencies including the city for its general fund.

Although the city’s financial outlook is rosy for the coming fiscal year, Weiss cautioned that the city likely will be back in the hole two and three years hence.

In the 2014-15 fiscal year, Weiss projected that the city will have a $1.7 million budget shortfall rising to $1.9 million the following year.

The shortfalls are due to the rising costs of paying the pensions and health insurance costs for city workers, Weiss said.

Councilman Gary Felien said the city “needs to keep in mind” the future shortfalls in deciding what to do with the surplus.

“As a body, we should be leery of spending money now that we’re going to have to cut back next year and maybe more (cutbacks),” Felien said.

Resident Sondra Renwanz urged the council to place a priority on youth programs in neighborhoods troubled by gang violence.

“There’s too much time on the hands of teens with nothing to do,” Renwanz said. “Give them a place to go, something to do.”

Resident Donna McGinty expressed similar concerns, saying the city should concentrate on improving the Crown Heights neighborhood following a spate of shootings and a stabbing that killed a 16-year-old boy.

“Every dime you can put into it needs to be put into it,” McGinty said.

Neighborhood Services Director Margery Pierce said one problem in Crown Heights is there is little room for the kind of programs that would help keep teens out of trouble.

“The demand for services in that neighborhood is extremely high,” Pierce said.

John Seymour, vice president of National Community Renaissance urged the council to use the surplus for affordable housing, including the $81 million Mission Cove project that his nonprofit agency plans to build on Mission Avenue.

Since much of the surplus was money meant for affordable housing, Seymour said it made sense to use it to offer loans for housing.

Seymour said $65 million of the money for the 288-unit Mission Cove complex would come from private sources but some government money also is needed.

Wood and Sanchez said they, too, thought Mission Cove should be a city spending priority.

At Sanchez’s suggestion, council members said they’d she’d like to see Wi-Fi wireless internet service installed in city senior citizen centers and resource centers, including one in Crown Heights.

Sanchez also said she’d like to install emergency ladders at city harbor docks at.